This invention relates to plastic bags and a method of improving their loading and dispensing ability. More specifically, this invention relates to plastic bags that are securely suspended on a compact suspension hook and then efficaciously loaded and dispensed.
Presently, stand-up paper bags are used to carry many forms of customer purchases, such as foods sold in fast food restaurants, prescriptions in pharmacies, cookies in bakeries, order fulfillment in distribution warehouses and so on. One of the chief reasons paper bags are commonly used in these applications is due to their ability to stand up and be loaded with product. Most fast food restaurants and many other retailers use paper bags because the ability to stand up aids in loading and when loaded, helps keep the food from spilling out.
When using paper bags in high volume fast food restaurants, they are typically stored flat on a shelf. The user extracts a bag from the shelf, inserts a hand to open the bag and to xe2x80x9cfind the bottomxe2x80x9d, and then stands it up on a counter top. This generally takes about 3-5 seconds to prepare for loading. The term xe2x80x9cfind the bottomxe2x80x9d typically refers to the need of a user to prepare the bottom of a bagxe2x80x94paper or otherwisexe2x80x94so that it can be stood up and loadedxe2x80x94or in some cases, properly loaded so it can stand up afterward.
Standard side-gusseted plastic bags, referred to as xe2x80x9cpinch bottom bagsxe2x80x9d, are dispensed from boxes or tear-away hooks. Examples include my Dual-Tab bags of U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,639 or those of U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788, Wilfong, et al. These bags are generally unacceptable for most fast food applications since it takes more time than paper to extract the bag, find the bottom, stand it up and prepare it for loading.
Common prior art plastic T-shirt bags (grocery sacks) and their suspension/dispensing systems are used in many supermarket and fast food applications and may allow a user to find the bottom and load the bag as it is maintained in an open disposition on a dispensing rack. This is accomplished by using racks with long suspension armsxe2x80x948 to 10 inchesxe2x80x94in which the T-shirt bag handles are threaded and suspended thereon. The racks also typically have flat bases assisting the user to find the bottom by blousing out the bag and its gussets either before or during the loading process. In fast food applications, these bags are usually used for larger orders of boxes and tubs. But using this type of T-shirt bag and system for smaller bag sizes and orders is impractical and not cost effective. In a high-volume fast food restaurant application, it is also impractical to have a suspension/dispensing rack for every bag sizexe2x80x94this would mean four different sizes of racks for a typical restaurant using four sizes of bags. There is simply not enough space to accommodate a multitude of racks. A minimum of two racks per bag size would usually be required so employees are not standing around waiting for the employee in front of them to finish loading a bag on the rack. Thus, eight space consuming racks would be extremely difficult to accommodate in a typical restaurant using 4 bag sizes. These problems represent the chief reasons why paper bags are still being used in most fast food applications.
Unfortunately the cost of paper bags has been skyrocketing and the need for a dispensing system for loading small, economic, thin-gauged plastic bags, that enables the user to efficaciously find the bottom has become more important than ever before. The preferred system would not be a space consuming suspension rack like those used with T-shirt bags. A compact suspension means that maintains a bag in a secure disposition, enables a user to find the bottom quickly or preferably upon loading of the bag, be quickly dispensed, and allows thin-gauged plastic bags to stand up after dispensing, would be ideal. It would be more desirable if the bags on the system also self-opened when dispensed.
The desirable traits of plastic over paper in many applications are also commonly known. They include superior strength, are more cost effective, improve food preservation qualities, take up less space in warehousing, have lower shipping costs, keep grease from leaking out and so on.
A method and apparatus for securing, loading and singularly dispensing bags in a bag bundle from a dispensing hook includes a bag bundle formed from a plurality of stacked bags. Each bag has at least a front panel, a rear panel, and preferably has two vertical sides, a closed bottom and connection between the at least front panel and the rear panel to define an open top for the bag. Apertures are defined in the front panel and the rear panel adjacent the open top, these apertures having an opening of a selected dimension normal to the vertical side walls with an upper edge. The bag bundle has the respective apertures registered one to another. A dispensing hook is used having parallel sides separated by a width complimentary to the selected dimension of the apertures to provide a secure, snug fit when the bag bundle is placed on the dispensing hook at the registered apertures. The dispensing hook defining a bag holding surface complimentary to the upper edge of the apertures. When the bag bundle is place at the registered apertures on the hook, a rear wall for mounting of the hook and a front retaining edge extending above the bag holding surface confines and secures the bag bundle to the hook. The front retaining edge rises above the bag holding surface to enable bags on a forward-most panel of a forward-most bag to be pulled up and over and free of the front retaining edge. Thus, the forward-most bag may be loaded while securely retained on the hook and, subsequently singularly dispensed by pulling the bag from the hook. Dispensing occurs by pulling a forward-most bag at at least one panel off the bag holding surface over and beyond the front retaining edge. Such pulling enables the aperture of the panel to climb from the bag holding surface, up the front retaining edge and over the top, free of the bag holding surface and retaining edge of the hook.
The present invention relates to thin-gauged plastic bags that are suspended and loaded on, and dispensed from, a compact suspension hook (CSH). Various styles of bags may be used and include sideweld or bottom seal bag varieties. A system using a compact suspension hook enables support of a loaded or unloaded bag, enables the user to quickly find the bag bottom for loading, or upon being loaded, allows for efficacious, singular dispensing of the loaded thin-gauged bag so that it may stand up later.
The advantages of the present invention are substantial since bags loaded on, and dispensed from a CSH completely eliminate space-consuming, cumbersome grocery sack style racks and greatly improve the ease and speed of singularly dispensing a loaded bag. Using the present invention also results in high productivity than when using paper bags. Furthermore the apertures or die-cut handles cut into the bag and suspended on the CSH are generally far stronger than the weight of the contents of a loaded bag. Thus the system of the present invention may eliminate the need for suspension arms or racks with supporting bases.
Bags and their related systems such as those of U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788, the Dual-tab bags of U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,639, or other types of common header bags will not support loaded contents. The weight of the loaded bag will cause the bag to tear free at the perforations connecting to the tabs or headers, or the separation apertures. These bag systems must have suspension arms or supporting bases, or both, to be serviceable as a loading device.